Megatron's Sword: Difference between revisions
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===Animation and technical errors=== | ===Animation and technical errors=== | ||
* In the ''Energon'' version of this episode, when Scorponok first uses the Megatron Sword against Hot Shot a red shape is shown instead to the completed flame effect seen in ''Superlink''. Later when Scorponok destroys Optimus Prime's [[Prime Force]] drone units with a sweep of the Megatron Sword, | * In the ''Energon'' version of this episode, when Scorponok first uses the Megatron Sword against Hot Shot a red shape is shown instead to the completed flame effect seen in ''Superlink''. Later when Scorponok destroys Optimus Prime's [[Prime Force]] drone units with a sweep of the Megatron Sword, red circles appear, instead of properly animated explosions seen in ''Superlink''. In Addition Optimus and Scorponok are simply hovering in mid-air. In ''Superlink'' a foreground painting of the bridge covers up this error so it looks like then are standing & sitting on the bridge. | ||
* When Jetfire and Ironhide go outside the base to help the Mini-Cons, as they run, the background doesn't move. | * When Jetfire and Ironhide go outside the base to help the Mini-Cons, as they run, the background doesn't move. | ||
* The animation of the ending battle sequence is amazingly unclear. | * The animation of the ending battle sequence is amazingly unclear. | ||
Revision as of 02:17, 21 October 2015
| This article is about the Energon episode. For the weapon sometimes called "Megatron's sword", see Energon Sword. |
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 Not your father's Excalibur | ||||||
| "Megatron's Sword" (Megatron no Akashi) "Proof of Megatron" | ||||||
| Production company | TV Tokyo, NAS | |||||
| Airdate | 30 January 2004 (Japanese) February 21, 2004 (English) | |||||
| Writer | Shōji Tonoike | |||||
| Director | Tadao Ōkubo | |||||
| Animation studio | Actas, Studio A-CAT (3D) | |||||
| Continuity | Unicron Trilogy | |||||
The survivors on Mars are attacked again, but the Autobots must turn their attention elsewhere.
Synopsis
Alpha Q can feel the newly captured energon reviving the form of his master, Unicron. But it's not fast enough, due to the Autobots' interference. Alpha Q plots their destruction, by re-energizing the inert form of Megatron. This, of course, requires energon.
In a practice session, Jetfire and Ironhide aren't having much luck in Powerlinxing, as Ironhide can't seem to properly synchronize his breathing with Jetfire. Jetfire leaves in a huff, but Ironhide seems to have a revelation.
A comet-thing approaches Mars. At the battered Mars City base, a group of Transformers have found a new energon source, and radioed the Autobots for backup. They nervously await a response.
Dr. Jones radios the discovery to Prime and asks for backup. Prime wants to evacuate Mars City completely, because the mining operations can't happen there without the Omnicons. Ironhide jumps at the chance to go on the mission.
Two Transformers approach Mars City without identifying themselves. The Transformers there prepare to defend themselves. The Transformers turn out to be Transformers, including Tidal Wave, who presents himself as a friend... till he confirms that there is energon on the planet. Hordes of Terrorcons attack. Tidal Wave attacks and blasts into the mine. The Energon Saber Mini-Con team makes their escape from the mine, into a sky filled with Terrorcons.
The Autobots are about to deploy from Ocean City, but Prime suddenly hesitates to leave the city, anticipating an attack in their absence. He calls off the mission, to Ironhide and Kicker's frustration. Kicker waits for the attack to come; suddenly a space bridge opens, and a squad of Omnicons arrives, along with Cyclonus. Demolishor greets his old comrade. Cyclonus scuffles a bit with him, however, taunting him that he's forgotten how to fight, and telling him that "Scorponok's been reactivated" and will lead the Decepticons to new glory. The Energon Saber team arrives as well, reporting the situation on Mars.
The comet-ship-thing returns to Unicron, and Alpha Q delivers a reward to Scorponok: Megatron's mighty sword, the Star Saber, pulled from his very carcass.
Like the Energon Saber Mini-Con team, Ironhide and Kicker are restless, wanting to go help out on Mars. Meanwhile, a Terrorcon shows up at another Earth city, and the Transformers stationed there prepare for attack. Prime's team prepares to move out; Prime refuses to allow Demolishor and Cyclonus to tag along, but they head off on their own anyway.
Scorponok and Tidal Wave lead the Terrorcons against the city; Cyclonus and Demolishor arrive and find themselves facing off against their old comrade. Prime's team arrives. Prime sends Hot Shot to draw the Terrorcons away, and Ironhide to help out any civilians left in the city.
As Tidal Wave argues and fights with Cyclonus, Scorponok unleashes the sword's power. Ironhide and Kicker contemplate violating their orders; Kicker notes that he doesn't sense anyone in the city, meaning that everyone got out. Upon seeing the sword, Prime wonders if Megatron could still be alive, while Demolishor and Cyclonus have panic attacks on hearing that, and Tidal Wave declares that with energon, they can resurrect him. It's unproven, circumstantial, and something any reasonable mind can reject—which is probably why Cyclonus decides to switch sides, but Demolishor isn't so sure, and is left confused and hesitant.
The Energon Saber team combines and offers themselves to Kicker as a weapon/hoverboard. Ironhide manages to Powerlinx successfully with Jetfire; Kicker gives him the sword, and they manage to save Prime from Scorponok. Demolishor stares at the sword in further confusion. Prime and Ironhide double-team Scorponok, who retreats before they can do any damage. Scorponok leads his troops away, and Cyclonus follows.
Demolishor is left full of doubts. Prime thanks Ironhide for the save, and reassures him that despite the day's tragedies, he did well.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Quotes
"Look. The energon flows through him. Perhaps we can use him!"'
- —Alpha Q hasn't thought this whole reviving-Megatron thing through very well.
"Yes, Optimus. There is still some energon at Mars City. We thought that it had been completely decimated but a hidden reserve was discovered by a squadron of Mini-Cons. I was hoping you could send a support team there to investigate."
"There are Mini-Cons at Mars City?"
- —Dr. Jones, who doesn't keep track of current events, and Optimus Prime, who can't keep track of his own troops.
"Mars City?! I'm in! I know I can teach those rookies a thing or two. You gotta let me lead the mission, sir!"
- —Ironhide is a victim of bad dubbing
"Huh? Where are those Autobots go."
- —Demolishor speak pretty one day.
"You chump! Scorponok wants you to believe Megatron is still alive to use you!"
"But I have proof!"
"Oh yeah? Well let's see it then!"
"Not now. Later."
"I knew you'd say that! Heheheahahahaha!"
- —Cyclonus reasons with Tidal Wave. Now there's a true battle of the wits.
Demolishor: "Megatron's still alive?!"
Cyclonus: "What do mean he's still alive?! He can't be! Can he?"
Tidal Wave: "We need energon for his resurrection."
Cyclonus: "No problemo! HAHAHAHA!"
- —Cyclonus defects in his own unique way.
"Kicker. Help me. I don't know what I am anymore!"
- —Demolishor's self-doubt begins to grow.
Notes
Lost in translation
- Jetfire claims that Ironhide needs to "synchronize his breathing" in order for them to combine. Err, right. In the original version, he talked about feeling the pulse of his Spark of Combination.
- The dub presents the Autobots manning Mars City as Mini-Cons, when in actuality, they're Optimus Prime's own team of trainees, as seen in the first episode of the series. This is why Ironhide is so determined to accompany Prime's team to Mars (to save his old friends), and why Prime and he share an emotional moment at the end of the episode (because they fail to save them).
- In Super Link, when Cyclonus arrives, Demolishor tells him a rumor that Megatron has revived; Cyclonus is skeptical, and they both think Tidal Wave is an idiot for going along with it. In Energon, Cyclonus tells Demolishor a rumor that Scorponok has been revived, despite the fact that neither of them have ever met Scorponok before.
- In Super Link, the sword was made from Megatron and infused with his spark. Energon mangled this into the sword having belonged to Megatron.
- In one of the more famous Energon dub gaffes, Alpha Q claims that the Megatron Sword is the Star Saber, which makes absolutely no sense.
- Ironhide speculates that "there could still be Mini-Cons on Mars who need our help!" Well, yes, there's a whole city of them.
- When Ironhide and Jetfire finally Powerlinx together, they refer to it as Superlinking.
- The entire point of this episode, which is that the surviving Transformers on Mars are possibly getting wiped out, is pretty much glossed over. Can't have a bunch of guys getting killed in a kids' show!
Pain count
- "Uh?": 3
- Stock footage: 3
- We need/they want energon: 6
- We've gotta: 4
- Let's do it: 1
Animation and technical errors
- In the Energon version of this episode, when Scorponok first uses the Megatron Sword against Hot Shot a red shape is shown instead to the completed flame effect seen in Superlink. Later when Scorponok destroys Optimus Prime's Prime Force drone units with a sweep of the Megatron Sword, red circles appear, instead of properly animated explosions seen in Superlink. In Addition Optimus and Scorponok are simply hovering in mid-air. In Superlink a foreground painting of the bridge covers up this error so it looks like then are standing & sitting on the bridge.
- When Jetfire and Ironhide go outside the base to help the Mini-Cons, as they run, the background doesn't move.
- The animation of the ending battle sequence is amazingly unclear.
- More dub-only additions in Energon show as Scorponok gives Tidal Wave an order before transforming and flying off to attack. The camera then pans-in on Tidal Wave while a crudely animated nutcracker style mouth moves up and down on his face, saying, "EN-ER-GOOONN.". This hides Scorponok from view, possibly since his transformation sequence is unfinished. Tidal Wave's mouth moving is a dub-only addition as is Scorponok Transforming. In Superlink, Tidal Wave drops down out of the shot and the camera zooms in on Scorponok, who then does not transform, which makes sense, since he is next seen still in Robot mode.
- In Energon, when the Terrorcons begin bombarding the stone city fortress, the music tracks abruptly switch. This is because in Superlink, there was no music track playing before the attack commenced; if you haven't noticed yet, Energon has a penchant for killing any moment of silence it possibly can.
Continuity errors
- The fact that Mars City was previously a smoking bomb crater, with no detected life signs, is completely forgotten in this episode. Instead, Dr. Jones reports to Prime that an energon source has been discovered there, rather than the more crucial fact that there were survivors of the first attack.
- Why at this point would Demolishor know or care who Scorponok is?
- Skyboom is called "Sonar" by Optimus—perhaps not so surprising since Skyboom's toy is a retool of Sonar.
- Cyclonus was last seen guarding the moon base before it was attacked and destroyed in "Cybertron City". So... where's he been all this time?. And why were there Omnicons with him when he came back?
- All the characters recognise the sword as Megatron's, when he never used it before. This manages to make even less sense in the Japanese version, where the sword was explicitly created anew by Alpha Q.
Trivia
- More spiffy generics in this one, both in Mars City and in the unnamed Plains City. One of the Mars group is totally wearing a trash can lid on his head. With some slight modification, this same character model would later be recycled as Padlock, the only distinguishing factor between the two of them being that Padlock lacks a mouth.
Home video releases
- VHS
2005 — Transformers: Energon — Volume 1: The Battle for Energon (Paramount)
2005 — Transformers: Energon — Volume 1: The Battle for Energon (Paramount)
- DVD
2004 — Transformer: Super Link — Volume 001 (Interchannel) — Japanese audio only.
2004 — Transformers: Energon — Volume 1: The Battle for Energon (Paramount)
2005 — Transformers: Energon — Volume 1: The Battle for Energon (Paramount)
2005 — Transformers: Energon — Volume 1: The Battle for Energon (Paramount)
2008 — Transformers: Energon — The Ultimate Collection (Paramount)
